International confidence in Obama still strong

3:01 PM,
Sep. 3, 2013

Protesters display placards during a protest against military intervention in Syria outside the American embassy in central London on Tuesday. Former Bosnian war mediator David Owen urged world leaders at this week's G20 summit to break the deadlock over Syria, saying Germany, India, Japan and Brazil could push Russia toward a diplomatic solution.

Written by

Andrew Kohut

As President Obama heads to the G20 summit in St. Petersburg this week he remains the most popular world leader. Ordinary citizens in most countries, with some notable exceptions, say they have confidence in him to do the right thing in world affairs and many generally approve of his policies.

But over the course of the past five years he has certainly lost some of his luster -- which is to be expected from a president who won a Nobel Peace Prize just nine months after taking office. Expectations were very high. And, as it turns out, so far he has not achieved what he promised. The world public has ...